Godzilla vs. the Love Brigade
by RCS
Summary: Godzilla decides to head for California instead of rampaging through Tokyo for the umpteenth time.


Disclaimer: Godzilla belongs to the people at Toho. Written on a whim after a Godzilla marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel, and I won't make a dime of profit on this.

GODZILLA VS. THE LOVE BRIGADE

Commander Jim Fulton, commanding officer of the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS _Tuscon_, arrived in the control center at the summons of the officer of the deck. Lieutenant Junior Grade Kent Fuller was at the sonar station, and Fulton went directly to the bank of consoles where the sonarmen manned their headphones. Fuller looked up as the CO arrived.

"What have we got, Mr. Fuller?" Fulton asked.

"A large contact bearing three-zero-point-six-five at three nautical miles from our position," the OOD replied.

"Depth?"

"It's at a depth of about six hundred feet."

"Can you identify?"

"Not particularly, sir," Fuller said as he looked at his captain. "But we can determine that it's not manmade."

"A biological?"

"It's rather big for a biological, even a blue whale."

"Blue whales generally aren't found this far south."

"I know, sir, that's part of the mystery."

"All right, change course to track it."

"Aye, sir."

-

"Welcome to the United States, Mr. Prime Minister," President Alan Keene said, bowing at the waist in the customary Japanese greeting.

Prime Minister Hiroshi Arita returned the bow, then extended his hand in the traditional Western greeting. The American President accepted the handshake.

"Thank you, Mr. President," Arita said. "It is an honor to visit your famous home."

President Keene gestured toward the Roosevelt Room, and Prime Minister Arita followed him in. First Lady Anna Keene and the Prime Minister's wife, Jun Arita, joined them. Usually a visit by a foreign head of state required interpreters, but the Aritas spoke perfect English. Thus, the two couples spoke alone inside the room without interpreters or other aides and dignitaries.

-

"We've been tracking that biological for six hours now," said Lieutenant Commander Gary Wright, the _Tuscon_'s executive officer. "It's definitely heading for the California coast."

"Estimated time of arrival at the coast?" Fulton asked.

"At its current speed, two days."

Fulton absorbed the information. He and his men had been poring over the sonar readings for six hours, and no one could come up with an explanation for the biological contact. One of the sonarmen, a third generation Japanese-American, had a suggestion, but Fulton wasn't about to accept it just yet. However, the chain of command had to be informed.

"Officer of the deck, come up to fifty feet and extend the antenna. We're contacting Pearl."

"Aye, sir," the OOD responded.

-

National Security Advisor Tina Decker entered the Roosevelt Room, where the President and First Lady were still socializing with the Japanese Prime Minister and his wife. She walked in quietly and stood unobtrusively to the side until the President noticed her. He gestured her over, and she handed him the missive from the Pentagon. He read the report, and his eyes visibly widened. He stood up and put a hand on Decker's arm to guide her out of earshot of the others.

"They don't know what it is?" Keene asked. "It's not a whale?"

"Too big to be a whale, Mr. President," said Decker. "However, the Pentagon does have on file readings of that same type taken by Japanese naval forces over a course of the last fifty years."

President Keene nodded and looked over toward Arita. "I think the Prime Minister should see this. Where is it now?"

"The _Tuscon_'s last report indicated it was less than two days from the California coast."

"Where is our closest carrier battle group?"

"We have the carriers _Nimitz_ and _John C. Stennis_ in port San Diego, but the _Abraham Lincoln_ battle group is at sea and can be on station anywhere along the California coast in less than a day."

"All right, advise the _Lincoln_ battle group commander of the situation. Tell him our suspicions are for his eyes only until we can confirm."

"Yes, sir."

"And get the _Nimitz_ and _Stennis_ out of San Diego. If this thing comes ashore in the San Diego area, we don't need them tied to their piers. Order them and whatever escorts they can muster up to join up with the _Lincoln_."

"Yes, sir."

"And have the governor of California mobilize the National Guard."

"Yes, sir."

-

"Are you certain?" Fulton asked. "Northern California?"

"That's our best estimation, sir," the chief of the boat said. "After tracking it for over a day now, we can be reasonably certain it's heading for the San Francisco Bay area."

"All right, get up to fifty feet and unreel the antenna. We have to inform the _Lincoln_ battle group."

"Aye, Captain."

-

The _Abraham Lincoln_ and her accompanying battle group turned as one on their new heading. The _Lincoln_'s air group was placed on alert, and her pilots waited anxiously in their ready rooms in full flight gear.

Lieutenant Bruce "Batman" Wainwright and his radar intercept officer (RIO), Lieutenant Mark "Lurch" Rossi, were idly engaged in small talk with the other pilots and RIO's of Fighting 10 when the squadron commander entered the ready room. He strode to the podium, and the men's chatter quieted.

"Gentlemen, you have probably heard various scuttlebutt as to why we've been diverted from Pearl Harbor to northern California. I can assure you that there isn't a Russian or Chinese boomer off our West Coast."

"Then why are we on heightened alert, Skipper?" Wainwright asked.

"Orders from on high, Batman. I can't tell you more than that, because I haven't been told more than that. All you need to know for now is to be ready to launch at a moment's notice. We're going to initiate increased aerial patrols with our Hawkeyes. You boys are going to be held in reserve while the boys from Fighting 85 will escort the E-2's"

-

A P-3 Orion reconnaissance plane banked around at the channel leading into San Francisco Bay. The pilot and his copilot looked out the side windows at the dark mass breaking the surface of the water. Neither man knew exactly how to report what they saw. So they continued to film the contact and transmitted the feed to the chain of command.

-

The President invited the Japanese Prime Minister into the war room to watch the live video feed from the Orion flying over San Francisco Bay. The dark shape breaking a wide wake across the pristine waters of the bay was unmistakable.

"_Gojira_," Arita said. "Your countrymen know him as Godzilla. I don't understand what he's doing on this side of the Pacific, though. He has a thing for Tokyo; it seems like as soon as we recover from his last rampage, he tears it apart again."

President Keene looked to NSA Decker. "Have the _Nimitz_ and _John C. Stennis_ joined up with _Abraham Lincoln_?"

"Not yet, Mr. President. They weighed anchor just this morning."

"Scramble all planes from Travis Air Force Base and the _Abraham Lincoln_."

-

Councilwoman Rita Winters rushed into the emergency city council meeting and found her many colleagues in turmoil. She took her place at the podium to call the session to order. The din slowly quieted.

"The military is poised to attack this beast in San Francisco Bay," she said. "As usual, their first reaction is to attack. We should embrace this creature of nature as we would any other."

A councilman raised his hand. "Uh, doesn't legend say this creature was created by nuclear testing? We hate nuclear testing and its aftereffects, don't we?"

"This creature was a poor victim of nuclear testing," Winters countered.

Cries of agreement filled the council hall. Winters waited for the din to quiet down on its own, for she didn't want to interrupt their right to express themselves.

When the room was again quiet, she said, "So I hereby propose that the city of Berkeley pass a resolution banning any military action against this creature. Instead of a brigade of tanks and soldiers and other symbols of violent oppression and hatred, I suggest we form a brigade of love to welcome this poor victimized creature. All in favor, say 'aye'."

The resolution passed.

-

"We got this through the California governor's office," Decker said, handing the President a message.

President Keene read the message. "The city of Berkeley passed a resolution banning military action against Godzilla."

""You're jesting," Prime Minister Arita said.

"No, Berkeley is still a hotbed of the counterculture movement. When my country suffered those terrorist attacks a few years ago, the Berkeley city council actually passed a resolution urging an end to military action against the terrorists' Taliban benefactors. So the action they took today doesn't surprise me."

"What do you want to do, sir?" Decker asked.

"There are more Americans at stake than a few hippie retreads," Keene said. "Ignore the city's lunatic resolution. How long until our forces arrive on the scene?"

"Twenty minutes. The Navy and Air Force aircraft are coordinated to attack at the same time."

"Good."

-

Councilwoman Winters and her Love Brigade waited at the waterfront as the huge creature waded toward shore, bellowing. People from all parts of the city had gathered to welcome it, while a lot more misguided souls had decided to flee in terror and abandon their city. Oh well, they were going to miss out on a wondrous moment in the city's history.

Winters closed her eyes to savor the unique sound of the creature's cries, marveling at the work of nature behind it. Then another far-off sound invaded her senses. She snapped her eyes open and looked skyward. Contrails from formations of military jets streaked overhead. They were going to attack the creature, despite the city council's passed ban.

-

Lieutenant Wainwright, keeping his F-14D Tomcat in formation with his squadron, glanced down at the crowd of people discernible far below.

"What are they doing down there?" Wainwright asked.

"It looks like a crowd waiting for Godzilla to come ashore," Lieutenant Rossi replied.

"Are they nuts?"

"Probably high."

"Oh."

"We'll get a better look when we go on our attack run."

-

The creature towering over the waiting Love Brigade seemed to be ignoring the telltale white contrails from the military jets overhead, instead pausing at the waterfront to peer down at the jumbled formation of people with welcoming placards. Winters knew that the creature couldn't read, but people coming out to welcome something with auras of love instead of weapons of hatred seemed compelled to spell out their feelings on homemade placards.

Winters peered up at the jets, which were now coming down to attack altitudes. The creature still ignored the military, its attention on the Love Brigade. Winters smiled as the huge beast stood in thrall of all the love being directed its way.

It reared its head back, and a curious blue glow emanated from the ridges along its spine. Winters was still smiling in triumph as blue fire erupted from the creature's maw….

-

Wainwright watched helplessly as Godzilla torched every last one of the crowd waiting at the waterfront. He had barely caught a glimpse of multicolored placards in the people's hands moments before they were incinerated.

The order to open fire piped through the radio, and the Navy and Air Force planes unleashed a hellish fury of missiles and high explosive bombs. Detonations rumbled across Godzilla's hide, but he seemed unfazed by the attacks. Instead, he directed his fiery breath skyward. An Air Force F-16 disintegrated in a ball of fire. He released another burst, and this time a pair of Navy F/A-18 Hornets were caught in the blast and destroyed.

Missiles and bombs continued to rain down on the creature, and he flailed his arms like he was batting at angry wasps. He bellowed his rage and breathed another burst of radioactive fire. An Air Force F-15 Eagle and another F/A-18 were incinerated.

B-52's suddenly roared overhead and disgorged a storm of blockbuster bombs. Explosions erupted around the creature, and he did his best to avoid the carpet-bombing. Wainwright lost sight of him in the cloud of dust and debris kicked up by the massive bombardment. When the last of the B-52's passed by, and the dust began to settle, Godzilla could be seen heading back out into the bay.

"Well," Wainwright remarked, "I guess sometimes placards are no substitute for several thousand tons of high explosives."

The Navy and Air Force fighters circled overhead to observe the monster's departure from San Francisco Bay and out into the Pacific Ocean. Only then did the planes return to their bases, leaving behind a ghost city.

The USS _Tucson_ continued to track Godzilla for days as he swam north in the direction of the Bering Sea.


End file.
